IMAGINE

“IMAGINE” is my story. L. C. New Jersey combat veteran.

Imagine that you were in the military and were deployed to a combat zone…let’s just say it was Afghanistan. Your tour of duty was 8 months but it was then extended to 12 months. During that time, you witnessed some of the most horrific sights imaginable… some of your buddies were killed right before your eyes. You were killing people you didn’t know for reasons beyond your comprehension.

Now imagine the terror of facing this day in and day out for all of those months. Perhaps you too were wounded and at the very least, you suffered traumatic brain injury and/or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder…but you are alive and going home at last.

Everything is just fantastic when you get home, except for the fact that you brought the war home with you. In your mind, you are, at times, still in the combat zone. You try to hide it, but it gets so bad that you can’t escape the terror and the pain of what you went through.

So, as often times happens, you lash out at the ones who love you…you are, at times, hostile, threatening and downright dangerous to their wellbeing. But you can’t stop. You can’t get the war out of your head. What to do? Alcohol is a start. It helps a bit, but heroin is better.

Now imagine you are only 24 years old. You have been asked to leave the home where you lived with family for all of your life. You are now homeless, addicted, terrified and alone. Any little thing can set you off and your head is exploding with the visions and thoughts of the war you brought home with you.

You need help, but most don’t want to deal with you because you are volatile, perhaps dangerous and a drug addict. Your own family abandoned you, not because they don’t love you, they just don’t understand PTSD and fear for their own safety. They too are lost.

“I’m sure you think this story is fiction, but it’s not…this is my story. I am the person going through this. I live in New Jersey and I’m terrified that I won’t make it. Thanks to Project Help for all the support over all of the time I have been in need”. L. C. Military Veteran from New Jersey. “They saved me when I was living on the streets, withdrawing from heroin, penniless and in total despair. Thank you Project Help”.

These are the types of issues Project Help takes on and tries to help with a plan to recover. This young vet is not a hopeless case because he is still alive.